Lifes Lessons
by Jessica Dawn
Summary: As learned by James Sirius Potter
1. Chapter 1

Lifes Lessons

Jessica Dawn

Lifes Lessons, as learned by James Sirius Potter

--

He may have only been an infant, but he knew that for the longest time, Mummy's belly was very comfy. Soft and squishy, just like the stuffed toy in his cot. James loved that bear. That bear went with him everywhere, whether he was crawling or struggling with his first few steps. Whether he clutched it tightly in his hand, or dragged it by his own mouth. His adoration of the stuffed animal was rather cute.

But James had noticed that laying on Mummy's belly was like laying on his bear. Except sometimes, Mummy's belly kicked him. It was on these occasions that James would turn and lookup at his Mummy. Mummy would laugh at him, pat his head, and try to soothe him back to sleep once more. She'd murmur silly words like "Thats just your baby brother." As she ran her fingers through his hair.

But James didn't understand those words. No. James understood that Mummy's belly was big and squishy, and very comfy. James liked Mummy's belly. But not as much as he liked his bear.

And then there came a day that Daddy had quickly picked James up, and his overnight bag, and moved to the fireplace. James knew that the fireplace meant he was going somewhere, but Daddy wasn't grabbing his bear! James reached out with his chubby arms and wiggled his fingers at the toy, had cried until he let out the word "Buh!"

Daddy understood Buh to be the name of the bear, and quickly realized his mistake, returning to the crib from the fireplace to retrieve the bear, which James squeezed tightly once it was within his grasp. Quickly, the green light that was already so familiar to the infant circled around them, and then, they were somewhere James only vaguely recognized.

He did; however, know when his Aunt Hermione had stumbled into the room, looking not as pretty as she often did, and rubbing at her eyes. "What're you doing here, Harry?" She'd asked, and James didn't understand, but he was content to try and go back to sleep on his father's shoulder, Buh clutched tightly in the hand that hadn't gone to his mouth.

"Ginny's about to have the baby." Ginny, James understood, was what Daddy called Mummy, and Harry, was what everybody called Daddy.

"C'mon then Jimmy..." Hermione had said, holding her arms out and reaching for him. James certainly wasn't going to get back to sleep at this rate... But Aunt Hermione had a big, squishy, comfy belly just like Mummy did. Maybe it would be easier than he thought.

Daddy had leaned over then, and kissed his forehead. "Daddy has to go for a while, James, but I'll see you later today, alright buddy?"

James' only response was to stick his thumb in his mouth, and tuck his head into the crook of Hermione's neck, his bear dangling from his free hand. He watched with dropping eyes as Daddy stepped back into the fireplace and made the green light show up again and then Daddy was gone.

The whole next day, James had played with Aunt Hermione, while Uncle Ron had disappeared. He'd gone like Daddy had, into the green light in the fireplace. But Daddy had come back before Uncle Ron had, and James had even abandoned Buh for Daddy. He'd crawled over as fast as he could, and then pulled himself up to his feet using Daddy's clothes. He reached up, and promptly fell back onto his bum, but Daddy had picked him up anyways.

They'd gone back home then, and Mummy was there, and she was holding... Something. It was much smaller than James, and smaller than Buh... But it was very loud, and Mummy seemed to pay a lot of attention to it. Daddy had taken him over to the big bed, and had sat down on it beside Mummy. James had then left Daddy and crawled over to get a better look at Something.

Something had eyes like he did, and arms and fingers and toes and even hair. "That's your little brother Albus, James." And so James had learned that Something was Albus... After several reminders when he'd looked from Something to Daddy, or Something to Mummy, and they'd told him again, that is.

It was only after a few minutes that James had needed to find out more, and his first interaction with Albus had been to quickly grab a hank of his hair and pull.


	2. Chapter 2

Lifes Lessons

Jessica Dawn

Lifes Lessons, as learned by James Sirius Potter

--

James was two and a half, and by now, he understood a lot more.

For example, he knew that Albus couldn't yet speak. And so, when James had knocked the cookie jar off of the counter, and had been confronted about it, his response had been "Al did it." And when he had accidentally taken Buh's head off when the toybox lid had slammed shut too quickly, he'd taken the two pieces to his mother, and cried loudly "Al did it!"

And when he was outside and knew he ought not to play with the gate, and bumped his head when it closed and knocked him over, he'd yelled that Al had pushed him. And then, when he'd taken the band-aid off of his forhead for the sixth time, and proclaimed that "Al did it," he was sent to his bedroom.

And so James had sat on the edge of his bed, swinging his feet back and forth, and holding a stitched together Buh on his lap, waiting for whatever was to come. Mummy had come first, and sat down on the floor in front of him, crossing her legs as she looked up at him and sighed.

James didn't know what the sound was called, but he knew that Mummy did it whenever he- No, whenever Al was bad. He tried to mimic her, simply because he found it interesting, but failed at making just the same noise as she did. Mummy simply shook her head.

"James Sirius Potter, what am I going to do with you?" She'd asked, and James found he could not speak. The way Mummy had spoken, James knew better than to speak. So he just sat still. "Does your head hurt?"

He shook his head.

"Good." She said quietly, and then laughed very slightly. James was thinking that it was appropriate to laugh, and so he gave a forced laugh. Ginny was wondering how to discipline a two and a half year old. "Let's talk."

"Mmkay." James said quickly, the false laugh evaporating. "Flying?"

"No James. We're not going to talk about flying." She'd laughed again, but James didn't. "We're going to talk about Al."

"No. Flying." James had tried again, arms wrappign themselves just a bit tighter around Buh.

"Al didn't break the cookie jar did he, James?" James shook his head.

"Al didn't rip Buh, did he James?" Again, James shook his head.

"Al didn't push you, did he James?" Yet again, James shook his head.

"And Al didn't take your band-aids either, did he?" For a fourth time, James shook his head. "So why did you tell me he did all those things?" James shrugged, by now unable to look at his mother. His eyes swam with tears, and he held Buh tighter than he ever had in his life before. "You do know, James. And I think I know too." He looked up at Mummy for a quick second, and caught sight of Daddy holding Al, outside his own bedroom door.

"I think that you were afraid Mummy and Daddy would be mad at you if you told us you did it all." James didn't move. How did she know? "But it's not fair to blame Al for it. He can't even tell us he didn't do it yet." And how did she know that that was just why he had done it? How did Mummy see his whole plan like that? He sniffed, and reached up from Buh for one moment to wipe at his eyes. He wasn't going to cry. He was going to be a big boy, and not cry in front of his Mummy.

"We wouldn't have been mad at you James. Mummy and Daddy just wanted to know who did it." Mummy continued, and James bit at his lip. "What you did was bad James." And then he couldn't help but cry. Mummy had just told him he was bad! He'd never thought he was bad, but Mummy did, and Daddy was right there and he didn't say that James was good. And so all James could do was cry. He turned from Mummy, and buried his face in the pillow on his bed, not wanting her to see him cry.

_He was bad. _Mummys and Daddys didn't love bad little big boys, did they? They couldn't. James didn't like bad things. Why should he expect Mummy and Daddy to like him, even if he was bad? He shouldn't. He heard his Mummy stand back up behind him, and move to the door. He heard it close part-way, and then his Daddy had spoken. "We still love you, James." and then the door was closed all the way.

Did Daddy know everything just like Mummy did too?


	3. Chapter 3

Lifes Lessons

Jessica Dawn

Lifes Lessons, as learned by James Sirius Potter

--

Mummy had a big belly again. James was three, and he distantly knew that Mummy had had a big belly before. And his aunts had had big bellies too, and whenever the big belly went away, there was always a baby. James hadn't been sure of this before, but he'd asked his Mum, and she'd told him that there was in fact a baby in her belly.

That night at dinner, Daddy, Al and James had had fish, with peas and carrots. Mummy had had a peanut butter sandwich and ice cream. That made James quite angry. He'd then been told that it was because of the baby that Mummy didn't have to eat fish or peas or carrots... The baby wanted ice cream and peanut butter sandwiches, so they gave it to her.

Well if the baby was the reason Mummy got to eat whatever she wanted, then James was determined. He had a baby in his belly as well. And he would start having a baby in his belly the next morning.

And he did. He woke up, and stuck his belly out, doing his very best to waddle the way Mummy had been doing and moved into Al's room, jarring the smaller boy awake. "Al! Guess what! Wake up! Al! Guess what!" The older brother was clearly excited about what he had to tell Albus, but the younger boy was very sleepy.

Al rubbed at his eyes and groaned. James was always very awake from the second he woke up. "Jaaaaaames... 'm tired... Go 'way."

But James did not go away. He himself then groaned, and shook his head. If Al didn't want to guess, then he would just have to tell him. "I got a baby in my belly." If James had ever grinned before in his life, it was nothing compared to what he was doing now.

Albus simply looked at him. "No. Mummy has baby in belly. Not yooou. Silly Goose."

James face fell slightly. He couldn't give up. If he couldn't make Albus believe him, how was he ever going to make Mummy and Daddy believe him? He stuck his belly out again, and in a slightly whiny voice said "No, _really. _I do!"

Albus looked down at James belly and his eyes widened slightly. James smirked and then 'waddled' out of the younger boys bedroom, satisfied by the look on his face that he'd succeeded in convincing the younger of the Potter brothers.

An hour later, it was time for breakfast. Teddy had come over to play with the boys for the day, and was contentedly sitting at the table eating his cereal. James had always adored Teddy... Thought of him like his own big brother, even though he knew he wasn't. He pushed the spoon around in his own bowl for a moment, before deciding now was the moment he would win over his Dad.

He stood up and carefully carried the bowl of cereal over to his father, offering it to him on outstretched hands.

"Whats the matter with your breakfast James?" Harry'd asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"The baby doesn't want cereal." James had offered, as Harry took the bowl and rose from his seat.

"James... Your Mummy is still sleeping... The baby isn't hungry right now. Go and eat your cereal." Harry insisted, walking back over to the table and putting James' bowl back down in front of his seat.

James rolled his eyes, and then realized his mistake, thrusting his belly out once more. "Not _Mummy's _baby... _My _baby!" He insisted, and when Harry had turned back around to look at James he had to stifle a laugh. This was something he wanted Ginny to experience. Teddy on the other hand wasted no time in flat out laughing, after spitting out his last mouthful of cereal.

Harry bit the inside of his cheek as he crouched down to be on level with James. "Fine then James. What does _your _baby want to have for breakfast?" He'd asked.

James was absolutely thrilled. It was working. His entire plan was working! Within minutes, his father had given him one of the cupcakes that Mummy had made the night before, and a glass of chocolate milk. This was fantastic. Teddy had snickered all morning, but James was loving it. When lunch had come, and Mummy had come downstairs, she'd laughed for a second when she'd given Al and Teddy their sandwiches and then asked James what his baby had wanted. When he declared that the baby wanted strawberry ice cream, he was given a bowl. Harry and Ginny didn't see the trouble indulging him for a little while. Come dinner he'd want some kind of _real _food.

Al had pouted when James had been given his second 'dessert' of the day. He wanted ice cream too! But Al didn't have a baby in his belly. It just wasn't fair!

Teddy spent the majority of the day laughing whenever he looked at James. He laughed even harder when James had declared that his belly hurt. "Are you sure thats not the baby kicking you?"

"No. It doesn't have feet." Teddy had laughed even harder when James had declared this.

"Jamie... You do know that boys can't have babies, right?"

"Why not?!" James had asked, shocked by Teddy's revelation. "Mummy has a baby!"

"Ginny's a girl, not a boy. Plus Ginny's old. You have to be a lot older to have a baby."

James made a face. Mummy and Daddy had believed him, and now Teddy was telling him it wasn't true? "Well what about Vicky?"

Teddy laughed. "Not even Victoire can have a baby yet."

James face fell, completely.

"I gotta say though, Jamie... That was a really good one..." Teddy smirked.

And so James had decided that he didn't have a baby anymore. Not now that his plan was ruined, and now that he'd learned that only girls could have babies, he was very curious. "Teddy...? How'd Mummy get the baby in her belly?"

Teddy had laughed, wise far beyond his nine years. "Well... How did you get the baby in yours?"


	4. Chapter 4

Lifes Lessons

Jessica Dawn, co-written by xhauntedpassionx

Lifes Lessons as learned by James Potter.

--

Mummy had a baby girl just over a week ago, and James had quickly learned that the house was going to be very different. The first thing that had changed was that Albus had moved into his room. Some of James' more baby things had been put up into the attic, despite his protests that he did still play with his basketball set. Said basketball set had acquired an inch of dust since James had last used it, and was quickly moved upstairs, amongst other things into the attic.

The boy had huffed on the day Al had moved in, and been in quite a mood ever since. It wasn't that he didn't like Albus, oh no, he quite enjoyed spending time with his baby brother... He just didn't want to give him half of his bedroom. That was definitely not fair. Lily was the smallest thing he'd ever seen, why did she need a whole room to herself?

Perhaps Harry and Ginny should have seen the inevitable argument coming... A two year old, and a three year old would not get along for very long. Things were going to come to a head sooner or later.

James had woken up late one morning, after being rather sick the night before. He didn't remember bringing Buh to bed with him, and now, after a whole ten minutes of searching, was still yet to find the bear. He'd then turned to Albus and asked, "Where's Buh"

--

Albus was a very happy boy when Lily came out of Mummy's tummy. He didn't know how a little person could come out of a tummy - Maybe it came out of Mummy's mouth? Mummy did puke alot when the baby was in her tummy, after all. He was no longer the smallest, which made him feel... Well, less small. The baby was cute, with red hair like Mummy, but Mummy had said that James and himself had to be careful with her, because she was fragile. He wasn't sure what 'fragile' meant, but he understood that he couldn't touch her without supervision.

After Lily was born, the two year old had to move into his big brother's room. He didn't really mind, but James seemed a bit annoyed. The room was bigger than his old one was, so he was happy, even if he only got half the room. He also liked being around his big brother's toys, and being able to play with them, even though he wasn't sure if he was allowed. But, if he was living in the room, shouldn't he be able to play with the toys without asking?

Buh. That was James' bear. Albus yawned and rolled over so he was facing his older brother. He only just realised that there was something squishy in his arms. It was Buh. He didn't remember sleeping with 

anything, but he did remember trying to find his blankey, which he couldn't find. Oh well. No matter. He found James' bear. Yay! Big brother would be proud of him. **"Here he is!"** Albus flung his legs over the side of his bed, and padded his way to his brother's bed.

--

James' eyes had narrowed when Al produced the bear. Why had he slept with _his_ bear? He had to have known Buh was his... Everybody knew Buh was his. This was simply not right, and unforgivable. "What are _you_ doing with Buh?" James had asked, and then his mouth had dropped open into an 'o' "You _stole_ him!" He'd proclaimed.

He then opened his mouth wider to call on their parents. Mummy and Daddy would be so mad. But then James remembered all of the countless times he'd been told that it was rude to wake Mummy and Daddy up for anything that wasn't an emergency... If he hadn't found Buh, it would have certainly warranted waking them... But he could deal with Albus on his own. He didn't need Mummy and Daddy right now, he would certainly tell them of the theft later, but right now, he was fine on his own. He had his bear back, and to an older child, there may have been no harm done... But James could simply not forgive and forget that Albus had slept with Buh.

"You're bad Al." He said simply, taking the bear from his brother and depositing it on his pillow. And then he'd done the only thing that really came to mind. He reached forward and seized the skin on Albus' upper arm and pinched it as hard as he could between two fingers.

--

_"What are you doing with Buh?"_

Albus tilted his head slightly and looked down at the bear in his tiny hands. He was holding him, and giving him to James. Couldn't James see that? It looked like that was what Albus was doing with the teddy bear. How the bear had gotten into his arms the night before, he really wasn't sure.

_"You stole him!"_

The two year old's eyes blinked a couple times. Then, he shoke his head frantically. He wouldn't steal anything! Mummy told them that stealing was bad, and Albus wasn't bad, was he? Mummy and Daddy loved him, so he must not be bad. Yeah, he wasn't bad. James was mistaken.

Albus couldn't help the little wobble of his bottom lip from happening. B-but... He wasn't bad! Bad people are... Well, bad! And people who are bad go to jail! And jail is yucky and scary and... and... Albus didn't want to go to jail. **"N-no... I'm not.. Bad."** The younger brother told the elder, and stretched out his hand. **"Buh?"**

**--**

"Yes you _are_!" James insisted, roughly pulling the bear from Al's hands, some stuffing coming loose from it's already once repaired neck. What had made Al take the bear? Didn't he have a blankie?

James quickly decided that the only reason Al had to take the bear was to make James upset, and in that moment decided that he didn't like his little brother anymore. Taking Buh was a mean thing to do, and James didn't know just what to say or do to show Al how angry he was with him.

For the three year old was truly seething. Not even Mummy or Daddy took Buh anywhere more than handing him to James, but Al had taken Buh into his bed. "You are bad Al! You are!" He'd yelled, reaching forward to shove Al away from him. "Mummy and Daddy _hate_ bad kids!" He'd let out, though he still didn't have all the anger out of his system.

--

Albus quickly began shaking his little head. He couldn't understand why James was saying he was bad. Little tears welled up in his eyes, and his lips were fully pouting now. **"'m not bad... Why am I bad? Noooo, Mummy and Daddy said they loved me!"**

The dark-haired toddler sat on the floor, leaning on his comforter that was hanging off of the bed. **"You a... A... A liar... James. 'm not bwad!"** Albus wiped his eyes, and crossed his arms, glaring at his big brother. **"I dwid not steal. So you are a lwiar. Lwiars are bad!"**

Yeah.. Liars were bad. And Albus knew that he didn't steal the bear, so it must be James that was the bad one! B-but... Bad ones go to jail.. And Albus didn't want either to go to jail. It was icky with other people who's parents don't love them!

--

James smirked as Albus spoke, some sort of mean streak kicking in. Albus was ready to cry. Big boys didn't cry... Making him cry would be a good punishment for his crimes against James. And that became the goal of the three year old. He wanted to make his baby brother cry, no matter what it took to cause it. In his eyes, he deserved it. **"Mommy and Daddy ain't gonna tell you they don't love you! They only tell me!"** He yelled.

But then Albus had begun to speak up for himself, which James hadn't counted on. He'd called James a liar which had only served to make the elder brother even mroe angry. **"I ain't lying!"** He shouted, picking up a toy car and throwing it at Albus. **"You took Buh into your bed and you had him all night! You did so too steal him! You're a stealing Feef!"** He'd yelled, having heard his father use the word 'thief' before when somebody had taken something from a storefront. Wasn't this the same thing? Only Albus had taken Buh from James' side of the room.

But wait, ahdn't the little boy taken other things from James too? Certainly now he had to share his parents with him, and he'd even gotten his bedroom! **"You took my room! You took my mommy and **

**daddy! You take everything from me! I hate you! I HATE YOU!"** He screeched, picking up another small toy, this one an animated army soldier and throwing it too at his younger brother. **"Go away, Al! I don't want you!"**

--

Harry and Ginny had quickly gotten wind of the argument, and had separated the two boys once again. Lily was temporarily moved into their own bedroom, and Albus had his back. By the end of the month, they'd moved into a larger house.

What had James learned of this? Al never really did fight back.


	5. Chapter 5

Lifes Lessons

Jessica Dawn

Lifes Lessons as learned by James Sirius Potter

--

Things were good in the Potter household. James was now five, and things were about to take a turn for the worse. Why? Because Teddy was eleven now, and he was learning about something very important... He being James that is. James had never known before just what was so special about eleven... He simply thought Teddy had liked the number, and wanted to be eleven years old. He'd heard Hogwarts mentioned before, but didn't understand yet that Teddy, _his very own Teddy Lupin, __his big brother Teddy Lupin_, would be leaving.

And so when an owl had arrived at their home while Teddy was blowing the candles out and there was celebration over his _Hogwarts Letter, _James hadn't questioned it and celebrated alongside their family. After all, he could ask all the questions he wanted later.

--

The first one that he'd managed to corner had been Teddy himself. They sat on the front porch as the sun fell, on Teddy's birthday. Not that they understood romance in their young age, but since they both liked the colours the sky turned when the sun went down. That and in a rare moment, it was not raining. Teddy had spoken first, still clutching the letter in his hands as though it were made of the same gold the sky was.

"I'm gonna miss this, squirt."

James perked up, tearing his eyes from the mesmerizing sky, and looking over at Teddy. What do you mean you're gonna miss it? We can do it every time!" He'd argued.

Teddy shook his head. "I gotta go to school, Jamie."

James shook his head back. "All the kids around here go to school in the morning and come back later... You'll still be here when the sun goes down, 's long as you're not at your Nan's."

Teddy sighed, moving across the porch to sit beside James, slinging an arm over his shoulder and giving the smaller boy a squeeze. Had Harry and Ginny been saving the Hogwarts discussion until it was relevant? Most likely... "Hogwarts isn't so close."

"So floo. Or fly. Or appara-rate." James had responded quickly. "You don't gotta take the bus if it's 

gonna take too long."

Teddy laughed. James never could actually say the word _apparate. _He'd given up on correcting the younger boy. "I don't think we're allowed to come home at night. And you can't apparate till you turn _seventeen_"

"Oh."

The boys fell silent for a moment, as James let it sink in that Teddy would no longer be around as much as he was now. "What about weekends?" He asked sullenly after a beat had passed between them.

Teddy shook his head. "Not on weekends either..."

"Christmas?"

"I can come home for Christmas. And Easter."

"But not Hallowe'en?"

"No."

Again the boys grew quiet. This was not fair. Not to James anyways. James was losing his best friend and _brother _all in one move. Teddy would go to Hogwarts and make new friends that were older like him, and were cooler than James, and he would forget all about him.

Teddy seemed to pick up on the younger boy's thoughts, and spoke then "You're still gonna be my best friend."

Those words hung between them, as the sky turned from gold to crimson and James didn't respond. When the sky was beginning to turn to black, Ginny had come out to call the boys into bed, and for the first time in his life, James had not said goodnight to Teddy when he'd gone to his room. He'd jumped into bed, grabbed Buh, and pulled the covers up over his head, sitting still. _This was not happening to him. Teddy was not leaving._

--

Harry came twenty minutes later, and had sat on the edge of James' bed without taking the blanket away from his eldest son's head. He was sitting upright, and so Harry knew, was awake. "You know James, Teddy is very upset." But James did not answer. "You never said goodnight to him... He says he doesn't want to go to Hogwarts."

James had happily thrown the covers away at this proclamation. "He's not going?!" He asked excitedly.  


"No, he's still going." Harry responded curtly, and James flopped back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. "He has to go to school James, but you shouldn't be rude to him for it."

"He's not gonna be my friend anymore."

"Of course he is." Harry laid down beside James, staring up at the ceiling. "What makes you think that?"

"Cause he's gonna be at Hogwarts, learnin' stuff with other kids that are eleven like him, and he's gonna like them more than me."

"Oh, don't say that James... I doubt the two of you would ever be anything other than best friends." But while Harry's words should have been comfort to the boy, his tone spoke otherwise. That tone that he used when James was speaking nonsense. "And it's only seven years... And he'll be home for Christmas, and Easter, and summer..."

James jaw had dropped. "Seven years?" He asked, rolling onto his side, staring at the wall instead of the ceiling now. Why had nobody told him this before? This was not _cool. _This was absolutely terrible. Teddy had seven years to forget about James, and the little boy couldn't begin to understand just how long seven years really was... To him, forever had only been five and a half years... How could he understand how long seven was? That was Lily and him put together... And that was a lot.

After a bit of quick math, Harry spoke again. "And when he's in his seventh year, you'll be in your first, and you'll go to school with him."

James lit up momentarily. "I'll be in school with Teddy?!" It sounded too good to be true.

"Well, I won't promise you'll be in the same house, but you'll definitely be there together..."

"Whatsit... Classes?" The little boy asked, both eyebrows shooting up onto his forehead.

Harry laughed. "No James... He'll be in his seventh year, and you'll be in your first..."

The little boy was no longer seeing the upside to spending a year at school with Teddy. His father was utterly hopeless when it came to comforting him, and the conversation was very quickly dying out, as they lost any connection to each other.

--

It wasn't until after breakfast the next morning that anything even began to change. Teddy was no longer there, and he was avoiding his father at all costs. His mother must have picked up on it, as when she was done getting Lily ready for the day, she'd come into James' room, just as the boy was struggling 

with his sleeves.

"James?" She asked, smiling as he figured it out and his head popped through the right hole. "There you are..."

He looked up at her, fussed with his hair, and sat down on his bed, picking up the aging teddy bear, squeezing it tightly to his chest. "Uhhuh... I'm here." He said simply, looking at the bear rather than the redhead.

"D'you wanna talk to me?"

"No." He said simply, though while his words said no, his whole body said yes. And so Ginny invited herself into his room and sat down beside him on the bed, where he instantly sunk into her, as she put an arm around his shoulder and then pulled him into a tight hug.

"It's not the end of the world, James..." She said simply, feeling her eldest son heave a sob into her chest. "It's just school. Someday you'll go and Al and Lily will still be here... But you're still going to be their brother... That won't change."

"S'not fair Mummy..." He let out, pulling away from her. "I wanna go with him. He's my friend. I wanna go too!"

"I know you do... If anybody knows how badly you want to go, it's me, baby... I had six older brothers..." She whispered, seeing for a brief moment herself in her son. "Uncle Bill went to Hogwarts when I was just a year old... By the time he came home for the summer, Grandma Molly says it was like I'd forgotten who he was... I wouldn't even let him pick me up..."

"You forgot him?" James asked, biting at his lip at that.

Ginny laughed for a moment. "Your grandmother says I did. But you have to remember James; I was only a baby... Smaller than Lily is..."

"So Lily's gonna forget him?" He asked, drawing his legs up onto the bed and sitting crosslegged.

"Heavens no." Ginny spoke quickly. "You won't let her. That much I know." They both shared a laugh.

It was only when James had laid down on his bed and glanced up at Ginny that either of them spoke again, and it was James. "What about Charlie?"

"_Uncle _Charlie James..." She chastised before continuing, "I was four when he left."

"Like Al?"  


"Yes, like Al. And I was just like you were. I didn't want him to go. He wasn't Bill... Bill had been going to school for as long as I could remember... It was okay for Bill to leave every September because that was what he did... And then after he went Percy went... Then..." She paused for a moment, and shook her head, looking down at her own feet when she spoke. "Then Fred and George left, and then Ron... And then I was all alone, and all of my brothers were gone... Bill and Charlie moved out for work, and everybody else was at Hogwarts..."

"So what'd you do?"

"I waited a year till I got to go away with them. Sure I hated being home alone... But it really wasn't terrible. I went to Hogwarts, and Ron and the twins and Percy were there with me... And your father was there, and your Aunt Hermione. I wasn't in their year, James, but they were still my friends... I had friends my own age too..." She turned, laying down beside him, and turned onto her side, propping her head up with her arm. "It's not the end of the world..."

"So your brothers didn't stop loving you cause-a school?" James asked, turning over onto his side, bear getting sandwiched between himself and his mother as he did so, looking up at her through his own dark brown eyes, shining with tears.

Ginny reached up and wiped away a falling tear with her thumb and shook her head. "If anything, I think they loved me even more because I didn't get to spend a lot of time with them."

And that had been what James had wanted to hear. He positively beamed at that, and let go of the bear, throwing himself at his mother. Where was she last night when he was upset and Daddy hadn't understood? It was as he jumped away after the lingering hug and took off shouting for Al that James learned that Mommy was the one to go to when he was upset.


End file.
